telemedicine

[tel-uh-med-uh-sin, -med-sin]

noun

1. the part of the telehealth system that uses internet and telecommunications technology, as video calls, to provide clinical services, as medical consultation, evaluation, and diagnosis, either in real time when the patient and the medical professional are in different locations or facilitated by remote monitoring and record sharing among healthcare providers.

   Rural patients may find that the only way for them to see a specialist is via telemedicine.

2. (loosely) telehealth.

telemedicine

/ ˈtɛlɪˌmɛdɪsɪn, -ˌmɛdsɪn /

noun

1. the treatment of disease or injury by consultation with a specialist in a distant place, esp by means of a computer or satellite link

Word History and Origins

Origin of telemedicine¹

First recorded in 1965–70; tele- ¹ + medicine

Example Sentences

Most of the other listed doctors no longer worked in the area or were contractors of the local hospital system, McLeod Health, which hired a Florida telemedicine company to provide emergency consultations for stroke patients.

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One of the doctors listed at a Dillon County location of McLeod in insurers’ 2023 networks is Jason Sebesto, a neurologist based in Steamboat Springs, Colo. He said he had worked for McLeod’s telemedicine contractor until the summer of 2021, before moving to another job at a Florida hospital, and that he shouldn’t have been listed in any South Carolina network in 2023.

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A growing proportion of abortions in the U.S. are provided using telemedicine—including for women in states that have banned nearly all abortions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v.

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The company never made a profit, burning cash across its DNA testing, drug development and telemedicine businesses.

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Then the first set of AGs claimed that telemedicine abortions rendered them unable to enforce their laws, arguing that the FDA had created an interstate conflict.

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